Back to business

I'm back!

Everything I wore was charity shopped. Skirt by M&S; jacket by M&Co; top no label; boots as before. All jewellery charity shopped except earrings online retail.

I was very pleased to get my car back quite early on Wednesday morning a fortnight ago -  it had also been washed and polished! As the car came back nice and early it enabled me to go to town in the morning to get my flu jab before we left for Ireland. I then went for a quick browse at the local Hospice shop where I had recently dropped off a bag of donations. I did the drop off on a Friday when they were closed but I handed the donations into the admin centre at the front. It was strange to see almost all of my donations on the rails or hanging on displays of earrings and necklaces! I resisted the temptation to buy anything back but I did find a vibrantly coloured top and a rich green coloured pair of trousers. Then it was off to Aldi to do some food shopping and home to catch up with blog land.

I went for my final swim on Thursday morning before going to Ireland. I swam 40 laps and got out 10 minutes early as I had a hairdresser's appointment and the Lidl shop to do as well. After unpacking the shopping I prepped and made dinner; trying to use up as much veg as I could. I bought very little in Lidl as we we would be away. For some time now I've had a Lidl Plus card which had quite good rewards. Once you had spent 100 you received a 2.00 off voucher and again when you spent 200.00 within a certain time period; you received a 10.00 off voucher. Now you have to spend 250.00 to get 10% off your shopping - in other words spend more to receive less. Isn't that just a sign of the current times?

This was the colourful top by Mistral I bought at the Hospice shop; jeans by Laura Ashley quite old now; the cardigan is by a Canadian company and was needed. I've been wearing a vest for the past 3 weeks as well; boots as before and all jewellery charity shopped. In the evening we watched the final of 'All that Glitters' and we picked the winning contestant. Just waiting for 'The Great British Pottery Throwdown' to start up again.

Friday was the day I was leading the bus walk. Only one other person turned up! I expect the later than usual start (10.50 am when it's usually 9.30 am or 10.00 am at the latest) put people off as did the waiver about brisk walking. We could have just gone and had a coffee somewhere and forgone the walk but we didn't. The walk was enjoyable and we caught the bus back in good time. I wore this outfit; just swapping my red boots for walking boots and a mac. The rain started after I got home, thank goodness...

Everything charity shopped. Jeans by East; top by F&F; cardigan by Masai. Beads and earrings also charity shopped as were the red boots.

No cooking on Friday but I made halloumi and salad for dinner for mysef and started a new Perspehone book. I have about 8 or 9 left to read in my collection so might need to request some more for Christmas...

Everything charity shopped. Top by Marimekko; skirt by Rebellion and jacket by Chico's. All jewellery charity shopped except earrings bought online. I dug out the rest of the boots I had under my bed and the ones I was wearing were a Sainsbury's sale buy.

I was determined not to do too much on Saturday as we had an early start on Sunday morning. I got up and pottered about packing up two black plastic sacks of lightweight summer wear that wouldn't be worn until next year. After breakfast I got ready and walked into to town to run a few errands and drop off a birthday card to middle grandson's little brother who was 5 on Saturday. Then I came home and spent the rest of the day finishing off my packing and reading my book. We started watching ' The Lorenskog Disappearances' on Netflix on Friday evening and watched more episodes on Saturday evening; but I hated the dubbing. It put me off watching 'Kleo,' too. I'd much prefer sub-titles.

We had a really nice time in Ireland although it went by too fast. It rained everyday for most of the day and there were high winds.  No surprises there! We had one day with sunshine and a couple of light showers; the best weather of the week so we went for a beach walk at Portnoo in Co. Donegal.

Where I spied this! I think it's an Airstream and it's used in season as part of a local restaurant; probably serving drinks or take away meals...

 We visited family in Mullaghmore and Grange in Co. Sligo and more family in Co. Roscommon and Co. Leitrim and went to Derry for a day out; where I bought myself a green pair of boots in the Children's Hospice shop as well as a yellow plaid dress and pair of pjs BNWT. We also (at the third attempt on my part) managed to walk the walls of the city of Derry; which were originally built by the Irish Society between 1613 and 1619. See here for more information about the walled city.

Seen from the Derry walls.

I spotted 2 plaques. The one on the left was outside a shop selling Derry memorabilia.

These 2 photos were taken in the Derry craft village which we had never noticed before on our previous visits to the city. And in Co. Donegal in our local community charity shop in Killybegs I found these:

Not one but three Fred Vargas books I hadn't read! I finished the last one on the plane home. I also found a knitted Julien MacDonald dress and a summer skirt whilst I was away; I always find good stuff in Ireland.

We arrived home on Monday evening to quite a chilly evening so we lit the fire. That will be a daily occurrence from now on I think.

Of course the next day being Tuesday meant  food bank volunteering. I wore this plus a leather jacket and a scarf which I didn't take off whilst I was there. Everything was charity shopped. I think the boots were a Barnardo's buy as was the knitted top; the red cardigan by Betty Barclay, was a previous Irish charity shop 1 euro rail buy; the skirt by Red Herring was found in a Bury St. Edmund's charity shop. It was the first time I'd worn wore long boots since earlier this year. They replaced my old pair of black knee boots which I thought I had donated to the charity shop but I found them and my brown knee boots under my bed when sorting out my summer stuff! I sorted out all my knee and OTK boots when I got home after the food bank and now have them all together. I still have more ankle boots to take down from the loft but don't feel ready to do that just yet.

Another busy week ahead of me which I'll share with you in my next post and in the meantime I'll be catching up with your blogs and commenting.